Carlisle Mum gets earlier cancer treatment thanks to 'revolutionary' blood test
Rebeca Proctor, 41, from Carlisle, was diagnosed with stage 4 non-small-cell lung cancer in January.
She was able to begin treatment earlier thanks to a new NHS liquid biopsy blood test, which identified a specific genetic mutation.
Ms Proctor said: "When I found out I had stage 4 cancer it felt like I'd been punched in the gut, I was scared – I just thought about my children, and if I would get to see my little girl start nursery, and how I would explain my diagnosis to my children – it was just heart-breaking to think about.
"But the medication has given me my life back and my kids have got their mum back.
"I'm taking it day by day and for now the treatment is doing what it's meant to be doing and shrinking the tumour, and I've got my energy back.
"I know I'm not going to be cured but I've come to terms with my diagnosis and the pills are stopping my cancer cells from spreading – we'll keep fighting this and dealing with what's been thrown at us."
The liquid biopsy revealed she had an ALK genetic mutation, allowing her to start a targeted therapy, brigatinib.
A traditional tissue biopsy confirmed the result around 10 days later.
Ms Proctor is under the care of Dr Sally Hall, a consultant medical oncologist at the Northern Centre for Cancer Care in North Cumbria.
The new blood test, now available across the NHS in England, detects fragments of tumour DNA in the bloodstream.
It identifies genetic mutations that can guide personalised cancer treatment.
NHS England recently announced that up to 15,000 patients with suspected lung cancer could benefit from the test each year.
An NHS pilot found that lung cancer patients could start targeted treatment up to 16 days sooner using the liquid biopsy compared to standard tissue biopsies.
The pilot also showed that some patients were able to avoid unnecessary chemotherapy and its side effects, improving their quality of life.
Professor Peter Johnson, NHS national clinical director for cancer, said: "Liquid biopsies are leading us into a new era of personalised cancer care and it's fantastic that we are now able to expand the use of this revolutionary test on the NHS to help tailor treatment for thousands of patients across the country.
"Cutting-edge genomic testing is helping us deliver more targeted and kinder care for patients, enabling some to avoid more intensive treatments such as further chemotherapy, which can have a huge impact."
Professor Alastair Greystoke, co-clinical lead of the ctDNA pilot and honorary medical oncologist at Newcastle Hospitals, said: "This is the first ever national implementation of a 'liquid biopsy first' approach to the diagnosis and treatment of a cancer."
"Not only has it led to faster and more precise treatment for patients with lung cancer, but we have also been able to show that this is a cost-effective measure for the NHS and set up the framework to evaluate this in other cancers going forward."
Professor Dame Sue Hill, chief scientific officer for England, said: "This represents a real step-change in care for eligible lung and breast cancer patients on the NHS.
"The liquid biopsy testing enables genomic mutations in the fragments of cancer that enter the bloodstream of these patients to be detected.
"This testing is transforming care and helping clinicians match patients earlier, especially when cancer tissue may not be available, with potentially life-extending targeted therapies rapidly and with greater precision."
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